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Cannot create/shadow copy 'File Name' when that file already exists

  • Article

The two common errors are

  1. Cannot create/shadow copy 'File Name' when that file already exists.

    Usually get this message usually when in a debug/edit/debug cycle after successfully building a C# solution and pressing F5 to debug it.

    Exception Details: System.IO.FileLoadException: Cannot create/shadow copy 'File Name' when that file already exists.

    If you wait a few moments before pressing F5 after a build, ASP.NET seems to have the time to complete whatever it needs to do. This is running Visual Studio 2005/ASP.NET on localhost.

  2. Unable to copy file obj\Debug\xyz.dll to bin\Debug\xyz.dll. The process cannot access the file bin\Debug\xyz.dll because it is being used by another process.

    Workarounds

    The best solution is to do the following, since VS basically locks the file and you cannot use third party resources to unlock it. Just use VS! In the Properties of a project in your IDE you have Build Events. Basically, you can write scripts during pre and post builds of a project. Add these lines in the pre-build event command line, which basically unlocks the DLL within Visual Studio.

      IF EXIST $(TargetPath).LOCKED  (del $(TargetPath).LOCKED)
  ELSE (IF EXIST $(TargetPath) (move $(TargetPath) $(TargetPath).LOCKED))

    Re-compiled and your unable to copy DLL error will not occur.

    More workarounds can be found on:

    https://www.connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/Workaround.aspx?FeedbackID=227522

Comments

  • Anonymous
    June 09, 2008
    PingBack from http://blogs.msdn.com/tom/archive/2008/06/09/cannot-create-shadow-copy-file-name-when-that-file-already-exists.aspx

  • Anonymous
    May 31, 2009
    in projects i clicked properties wherein i got a window iwth application , compiler etc where do i write the above code lines inthe application

  • Anonymous
    January 08, 2010
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    February 22, 2010
    Nick, Can you give me more of what happens?  Are others having this issue as well?

  • Anonymous
    March 12, 2010
    I usually just do a rebuild and then start the app

  • Anonymous
    May 14, 2010
    Basically this does not work... :(. Error 4 The command "IF EXIST c:inetpubwwwrootehp2.2WebbinEHP.Web.dll.LOCKED  (del c:inetpubwwwrootehp2.2WebbinEHP.Web.dll.LOCKED)  ELSE (IF EXIST c:inetpubwwwrootehp2.2WebbinEHP.Web.dll (move c:inetpubwwwrootehp2.2WebbinEHP.Web.dll c:inetpubwwwrootehp2.2WebbinEHP.Web.dll.LOCKED))" exited with code 9009. Web

  • Anonymous
    February 13, 2011
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    October 16, 2011
    This error occured when I enabled ASP.NET health monitoring/web events (Site hosted in IIS Express).

  • Anonymous
    March 06, 2012
    Check the folder or files has proper permission, if it is not give write permission

  • Anonymous
    August 07, 2012
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    August 02, 2013
    I highly recommend to download "Long Path Tool"  useful in situations where you see these error messages: Cannot read from source file or disk, there has been a sharing violation, cannot delete file or folder, the file name you specified is not valid or too long, the source or destination file may be in use and many other file managing errors.

  • Anonymous
    August 21, 2013
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    August 21, 2013
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    August 27, 2013
    I just download and use "Long Path Tool" guarantees to fix your error fast and easy. Try it.

  • Anonymous
    October 27, 2013
    Why can't you guys fix this bug?  It happens to me every single day, wastes my time and slows me down, and has happened since Visual Studio 2008.